Burndy Library
| Burndy Library | |
|---|---|
| Location |
|
| Type | Research library |
| Scope | History of science and technology |
| Established | 1941 |
| Dissolved | 2006 |
The Burndy Library (1941–2006) was a private research library on the history of science and technology, assembled by the electrical engineer and industrialist Bern Dibner and named for his Burndy Engineering Corporation. The collection grew to some 67,000 volumes, with particular strengths in electricity and magnetism and in works by and about Isaac Newton.
Dibner began collecting in 1929 and founded the library in 1941 within Burndy Engineering Corporation. In 1951 his company moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, and in 1964 the library was given a building of its own there. In 1974, Dibner donated a quarter of the holdings — roughly 10,000 books and the entire manuscript collection — to the Smithsonian Institution to mark the United States Bicentennial; the gift was announced the following year and the material reached Washington in 1976, when the Smithsonian's Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology opened.
The remaining collection moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992, alongside the newly established Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology. In November 2006, the library was transferred to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, where the collection has supported fellowships in the history of science, a lecture series and an annual conference.
The Burndy Library hosted exhibitions, memorials and events related to science and its history. Dibner directed the library himself into his late eighties. After his passing, the library was managed by trustees at Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, with David Dibner, son of Bern Dibner, serving as its president.